Tick-borne diseases in the North Sea region-A comprehensive overview and recommendations for diagnostics and treatment

Randi Eikeland; Anna J Henningsson; Anne-Mette Lebech; Yvonne Kerlefsen; Sally Mavin; Amber Vrijlandt; Joppe W Hovius; Tinne Lernout; Chin Lim; Gerhard Dobler; Volker Fingerle; Rosa M Gynthersen; Per-Eric Lindgren; Harald Reiso

doi:10.1016/j.ttbdis.2023.102306

Tick-borne diseases in the North Sea region-A comprehensive overview and recommendations for diagnostics and treatment

Ticks Tick Borne Dis. 2024 Mar;15(2):102306. doi: 10.1016/j.ttbdis.2023.102306. Epub 2024 Jan 5.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Norwegian National Advisory Unit on Tick-Borne Diseases, Sørlandet Hospital, Kristiansand, Norway; Faculty of Health and Sport science, University of Agder, Grimstad, Norway. Electronic address: [email protected].
² Division of Inflammation and Infection, Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden; National Reference Laboratory for Borreliosis and Other Tick-Borne Bacteria, Clinical Microbiology, Laboratory Medicine, Region Jönköping County, Sweden.
³ Department of Infectious Diseases, Copenhagen University Hospital, Rigshospitalet, Denmark; Department of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Denmark.
⁴ Norwegian National Advisory Unit on Tick-Borne Diseases, Sørlandet Hospital, Kristiansand, Norway.
⁵ Scottish Lyme Disease and Tick-borne Infections Reference Laboratory, Raigmore Hospital, Inverness, UK.
⁶ Amsterdam UMC, location AMC, Department of Internal Medicine, Section of Infectious Diseases, Amsterdam UMC Multidisciplinary Lyme borreliosis Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
⁷ Sciensano Epidemiology of infectious diseases, Brussels, Belgium.
⁸ Nationales Konsiliarlabor FSME, Institut für Mikrobiologie der Bundeswehr, Munich, Germany.
⁹ German National Reference Center for Borreliae, Bavarian Health and Food Safety Authority, Oberschleißheim, Germany.
¹⁰ Department of Infectious Diseases, Copenhagen University Hospital, Rigshospitalet, Denmark.
¹¹ Laboratory Medicine, County Hospital Ryhov, Jönköping, Sweden.

PMID: 38183851
DOI: 10.1016/j.ttbdis.2023.102306

Abstract

As part of the NorthTick project, co-funded by the European Union through the European Regional Development Fund and the North Sea Region Programme, specialists in the field of tick-borne diseases from seven North Sea countries co-operated with patient organisations and governmental health care institutions to provide this comprehensive overview of diagnostics and treatment recommendations in the region for Lyme borreliosis, Borrelia miyamotoi infection, tick-borne encephalitis, human granulocytic anaplasmosis, rickettsiosis, neoehrlichiosis and babesiosis. The main conclusion is that the recommendations in these northern countries are essentially the same, with very few differences. This overview presents the current diagnostics and provides useful clinical guidance.

Keywords: Borreliosis; Clinical picture; Diagnosticks; Recommandations; Tick-borne Encephalitis; Tick-borne diseases.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Animals
Babesiosis* / diagnosis
Babesiosis* / epidemiology
Babesiosis* / therapy
Borrelia Infections*
Encephalitis, Tick-Borne*
Humans
Lyme Disease* / diagnosis
Lyme Disease* / epidemiology
Lyme Disease* / therapy
North Sea
Tick-Borne Diseases* / diagnosis
Tick-Borne Diseases* / epidemiology
Tick-Borne Diseases* / therapy